Christ Our Hope was the theme of a conference for those in ministries of life, charity and justice under the umbrella of pro-life activities throughout the Diocese of Austin. The conference, which was held Aug. 24 at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Austin, was organized by the diocesan Secretariat of Life, Charity and Justice and featured Hosffman Ospino, a professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education in the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College; and Father James Misko, diocesan vicar general. Among the sessions in English and Spanish were topics such as respect life, mental health, growing older, restorative justice, immigration, understanding poverty and racism. In his homily at the opening Mass, Austin Bishop Joe Vásquez said Jesus called his apostles to go out into the world. As baptized disciples of Jesus Christ, we are also called to go out as well. Embracing immigrants Ospino said we live in a time when the church is changing, diverse and struggling to find its identity. After World War II, Catholic identity in the U.S. was mostly white and ascending to middle class following decades of anti-Catholic sentiment. Today, the church is dealing with anti-immigrant sentiment that is very similar to the anti-Catholic sentiment many Catholics experienced early in the 20th century. “At the heart of the change are people like me,” said Ospino, an immigrant from Colombia. “Today we have more immigrants from India, Africa and Asia.” It can be a challenge to worship alongside those whose cultures are different, he noted. We must remember that change is a constant in this universal church. The church must embrace immigrants, he said. “Sixty percent of Catholics younger than 18 are Latino,” Ospino said. “And 10 percent of Catholics younger than 18 are Asian.” Parishes not embracing immigrants are closing, especially in the northeast U.S., he said. Around 1990, there were 19,620 parishes. In 2010 there were 17,780 parishes, about the same as in 1965. “They closed themselves off to being renewed by young people, and those young people are mainly immigrants from Latin America,” he said. Ospino said the church today faces three major challenges: individualism, exacerbated by technology that isolates us; prejudice, including racial, social economic, religious, class and gender; disregard for the value of life, including abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, animals and plants in the forests, and climate change that is displacing people world-wide. “So what do we do as Roman Catholics?” Ospino asked. “We cannot retreat into our safe little corners. We cannot remain silent. That is not what God tells us to do. We cannot forego repairing and building both the church and society.” After his keynote, Ospino said while change is often difficult, it’s important to understand the church was not built for one group. “The church was built for the entire community –– the people of God,” he said. “For the black community, the European, the Asian, the Latin American. We built his church for anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ and wants to celebrate that.” Engaging young people In his keynote, Father Misko challenged attendees to engage young people in parishes. He noted that in his post-synod Apostolic Exhortation “Christus Vivit,” Pope Francis tells young people that “Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life.” Historically, it is young people who reinvigorate the church: The Blessed Virgin Mary was about 14 when she said “yes” to God and the Word was made flesh, he said. The church by her nature is young, Father Misko said. He implored adults to treat the youth as sacred ground and to encourage them to participate in all ministries and in leadership positions within the church and the community. Ending racism In the session on racism, DeKarlos Blackmon, the diocesan director of the Secretariat of Life, Charity and Justice, said the issue of racism is a life issue. “It is imperative we see ourselves as church, faithful, with no room for bigotry and racism,” he said. “It’s wonderful to be pro-life, but it’s important to understand what that truly means. We don’t segregate the lives we choose to respect. We call for the eradication of poverty and racism in our communities. We are seeking to love more and separate less.” We cannot turn away from this issue because racism does still exist in this country and in our church, Blackmon said. In the U.S., 56% of the prison population is black and Latino even though that demographic group is only 18.9% of the population; whites have 10 times more wealth than blacks and eight times more than Latinos. Redlining, school segregation and affordable housing are all issues still affecting people of color today from years of discrimination. Gerrymandering that suppresses minority voters is still happening today, he said. “We cannot sit on the sidelines,” Blackmon said. “We cannot look the other way with indifference and allow our brothers and sisters to suffer. There can be no room in our hearts for racism.” Debunking myths In the panel on immigration, Justin Estep, director of Immigration and Legal Services at Catholic Charities of Central Texas, described the process for immigrants to obtain legal status and dispelled many of the myths surrounding asylum and immigration. One myth: Undocumented immigrants come here to have an “anchor baby,” so they can get legal status. That is basically impossible, since a child must be 21 to petition for a parent. Also, the parent needs a waiver or “pardon” for being undocumented and they must have another qualifying relative such as a husband or parent that is also a U.S. citizen, he said. Another myth: Undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes. The IRS in 2015 received 4.4 million tax returns from workers who do not have Social Security numbers, which includes a large number of undocumented immigrants. That year they paid $23.6 billion in income taxes. There also is a biblical imperative, said the members of the panel. In Leviticus 19:33-34, the Lord asks the Israelites to “treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you.” In the Gospel of Matthew, the story of Jesus begins with the Holy Family fleeing Israel during the tyrannical rule of King Herod, seeking safety in Egypt. Then in the final judgement, Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”